Environmentalists say the ruling Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., should mark the end of a 15-year legal battle over logging trees used by marbled murrelets along the coasts of Oregon, Washington and northern California.

The American Forest Resources Council had argued that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously in designating the U.S. population of marbled murrelets distinct from birds in Canada, despite a line in the law saying political boundaries are a valid reason. The appeals court found the decision did not depart from standard practice, and it let stand a district court ruling.

“The big picture is that we are disappointed in our continued inability to get the judicial branch of our government to exert some control over the administrative branches’ overzealous interpretation in favor of the marbled murrelet,” said Ann Forest Burns, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland. “It’s not about the bird. It’s about logging. It’s the bird du jour.”

Kristen Boyles, an attorney for the environmental group Earthjustice, said she felt the reason the timber industry has been willing to fight so hard to remove protections for the marbled murrelet is that it is not as charismatic as the northern spotted owl, which was the prime focus of lawsuits that cut logging by 90 percent on national forests in the Northwest.

The marbled murrelet is a robin-sized bird that feeds and lives on the ocean, but it flies as much as 50 miles inland to lay a single egg in a mossy depression on a large tree branch. While much of the battle over logging in the Northwest has gone on over habitat for spotted owls and salmon on national forests, the marbled murrelet was the reason the Oregon Department of Forestry withdrew two dozen timber sales on the Elliott State Forest outside Coos Bay last year.

Under a federal court order, the marbled murrelet was listed as a threatened species in 1992 in Oregon, Washington and California because of the loss of nesting habitat to commercial logging, the loss of fish to eat to gillnetting and oil spills.

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By Jeff Barnard

]]>http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/associated-press/appeals-court-upholds-protection-for-threatened-seabird/feed/0House to vote on Homeland bill without conditionshttp://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/associated-press/house-to-vote-on-homeland-bill-without-conditions/
http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/associated-press/house-to-vote-on-homeland-bill-without-conditions/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 15:47:23 +0000http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=539418WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major victory for President Barack Obama, the Republican-led House relented on Tuesday and will back legislation to fund the Homeland Security Department through the end of the budget year, without restrictions on immigration.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, outlined the dwindling options for his deeply divided GOP caucus on Tuesday morning after the Senate left the House with little choice. Boehner pointed out that the issue is now in the hands of the courts.

“I am as outraged and frustrated as you at the lawless and unconstitutional actions of this president,” Boehner told his caucus, according to aides. “I believe this decision — considering where we are — is the right one for this team, and the right one for this country.”

Conservatives had demanded that the funding bill roll back Obama’s immigration directives from last fall. He signed orders sparing millions of immigrants from deportation. Democrats had insisted on legislation to fund the department, which shares responsibility for anti-terrorism operations, without any conditions.

The GOP leadership’s decision angered several conservatives.

“This is the signal of capitulation,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. “The mood of this thing is such that to bring it back from the abyss is very difficult.”

But more pragmatic Republicans welcomed Boehner’s move.

“Sanity is prevailing. I do give John Boehner credit,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

A vote could occur as early as Tuesday. Short-term funding for the department expires on Friday at midnight.

A federal court ruling has temporarily blocked the administration from implementing the new immigration rules. The administration has appealed the decision and the ultimate result of the legal challenge is unknown.

Passage of the stand-alone spending bill would seal the failure of a Republican strategy designed to make Homeland Security funding contingent on concessions from Obama. The department, which has major anti-terrorism responsibilities, is also responsible for border control.

Whatever the final result of the struggle, controversy over the legislation has produced partisan gridlock in the first several weeks of the new Congress, though Republicans gained control of the Senate last fall and won more seats in the House than at any time in 70 years.

Even so, Democratic unity blocked passage in the Senate of House-passed legislation with the immigration provisions. By late last week, a split in House GOP ranks brought the department to the brink of a partial shutdown. That was averted when Congress approved a one-week funding bill that Obama signed into law only moments before a midnight Friday deadline.

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By Erica Werner and David Espo

]]>http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/associated-press/house-to-vote-on-homeland-bill-without-conditions/feed/0State to supply just 20 percent of waterhttp://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/associated-press/state-to-supply-just-20-percent-of-water/
http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/associated-press/state-to-supply-just-20-percent-of-water/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 15:36:19 +0000http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=539416FRESNO (AP) — Water districts that serve 25 million Californians and vast farmland can expect to receive a fraction of the supplies sought from the state during the fourth year of the drought, officials announced Monday.

The State Water Project plans to deliver 20 percent of the requested amounts — a figure that marks a 5 percent increase from its previous estimate in January.

However, it’s the second-lowest amount since 1991, according to the California Department of Water Resources, which provides water to districts in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

“It’s a big deal, each little amount of water that we get,” said Curtis Creel, assistant general manager of the Kern County Water Agency based in the agriculture-rich Central Valley. “The higher allocation does give us a little bit of breathing room compared to last year.”

Creel said the agency will be forced to draw on reserve water stored underground. Some farmers will have to rely on ground water or leave fields unplanted.

State officials said large storms in December and February along with careful management have put state reservoirs at higher levels than a year ago.

“We’re confident that this water, delivered to local districts around the state, will help offset some economic harm of this extended drought,” Mark Cowin, director of the state’s Department of Water Resources, said in a statement.

Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the slight increase was welcomed, but it does not substantially change the supply picture. The district provides water to 19 million Southern California residents.

“Although Metropolitan continues to maintain water in reserve, we must carefully manage these supplies should the drought stretch beyond this year,” Kightlinger said in a statement, adding that the district also receives water from the Colorado River.

Surveyors on Tuesday are expected to make the third measurement of the snowpack for the wet season.

So far, officials say electronic readings show the snowpack at 19 percent of the normal water content for this time of year. Snowpack is also a key contributor to the state water supply.

Federal water officials said last week that some Central California farmers can expect to receive no irrigation water through the Central Valley Project.

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By Scott Smith

]]>http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/associated-press/state-to-supply-just-20-percent-of-water/feed/0Bob Dunning: Rampant crime on the streets of Davishttp://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/dunning/bob-dunning-rampant-crime-on-the-streets-of-davis/
http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/dunning/bob-dunning-rampant-crime-on-the-streets-of-davis/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 15:29:18 +0000http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=538954Working undercover as a paid informant for the Davis Police Department, the Davis City Council, the FBI, Hawaii Five-O and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, I have been able to determine that serious criminal activity has been taking place in broad daylight on an otherwise ordinary Davis city street.

Worse yet, this behavior, which may or may not rise to the level of a felony, involves not only adults in our community, but a number of Davis schoolchildren as well.

Fortunately, the civil authorities are all over this one and those responsible for this betrayal of public safety will soon be brought to justice.

I am looking at a “Notice of Violation” directed toward the residents of a Davis street I refuse to name because I don’t wish it to be overrun with tourists. I also don’t wish to turn these little lawbreakers into rebellious urban heroes.

Let’s just say the street is named after a beautiful Chrysler Corp. automobile and leave it at that.

“Dear Property Owner or Tenant,” the Notice begins tentatively, not certain who or what is being dealt with here.

“The Code Enforcement Division recently observed conditions on your property or in the public right-of-way adjacent to your property that constitutes a public nuisance as defined by Chapter 35 of the Davis Municipal Code (DMC).”

Hopefully, everyone is seated comfortably by now and young children have been asked to leave the room.

Adds the Notice: “The violation(s) observed include: Basketball hoop in the public right of way/street.”

This sort of rampant crime is exactly the reason people move to gated neighborhoods where they can safely sleep at night without the incessant “slap, slap, slap” of a bouncing basketball.

Even George Karl wouldn’t put up with this level of criminal activity outside his home.

Adds the Notice: “Pursuant to Chapter 35 of the Davis Municipal Code, if the above stated violation(s) are not properly brought into compliance within the specified time limit, administrative penalties shall be imposed in the following amounts: $100 for a first violation; $200 for a second violation of the same nature within one year; and $500 for each additional violation of the same nature within one year of the second violation. Each day any violation continues constitutes a separate violation.”

A slam dunk or a successful three-point attempt will each bring a fine of $1,000.

Furthermore, if one team playing on or near this illegal impediment to public safety defeats another team by more than 50 points, it shall be constituted as a hate crime.

According to Section 35.01.020, “It shall be unlawful for any person to place upon any sidewalk or street or part thereof in the city, or to allow to stand or remain for an unreasonable length of time upon that portion of the sidewalk or street or part thereof within the city immediately abutting, traversing or existing in front of such person’s real property or premises, any building, fence, vehicle, engine, piece of machinery, merchandise or other article or thing of any nature, including debris such as soil, gravel, tree litter (including leaves, fruit or seeds), moss, grass clippings or other loose or slippery material.”

Not sure where a basketball hoop fits in that catch-all definition, but from sad personal experience I can truthfully state that every hoop I ever shot at most definitely was made of slippery material.

“Any violation of Section 35.01.020 is hereby declared to be a public nuisance and may be subject to abatement by any means provided by law.”

I mean, the next thing you know these law-breaking kids will start selling lemonade on the public sidewalk.

As one crime-encouraging parent noted of the two basketball standards on the street: “The hoops have seen hours, days and weeks of enjoyment until today. Two of the families received notices to remove the hoops. Someone had complained. Complained about the joyful noise perhaps? Complained about the amount of time these children were exercising outside? We may never know the reason. What I do know is that there are five families, 10 children under age 11, all very disappointed and confused as to why a basketball hoop is a problem. It was their way of enjoying being young and their freedom in our safe community.”

Tell it to the judge, lady.

Unrepentant about this ongoing crime wave, this defiant parent goes on to say: “We are going to fight to keep our hoops.”

Book ’em, Danno. Book all of ’em.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net

]]>http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/dunning/bob-dunning-rampant-crime-on-the-streets-of-davis/feed/1For the recordhttp://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/briefly/for-the-record-211/
http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/briefly/for-the-record-211/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 21:09:12 +0000http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=539105The movie “Harvest of Empire” will be shown in the sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, March 8. A brief story published Friday gave a different date. We regret the error.
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